If you have ever been to an Emergency Department, you know it can be busy, chaotic and highly emotional. As the most common entry point to the hospital, this is where patients and families come sick, scared, overwhelmed, frustrated and easily dissatisfied if things...

Dear Nightingales and Friends, I was talking with an attorney client and paralegal about the various ways to organize medical records. He had mentioned, “Last time you organized records, it was by medical category. Why did you do it differently?”. Some clients prefer...

Dear Nightingales and Friends, So, funny story…A doctor and a nurse walk into a patient’s room. The doctor says to the patient, “Can you tell me who the president is?” The patient does. The doctor then says to the patient, “Can you tell me today’s date?” The patient...

It is true… That what can save a life …… can also cause side effects and complications. Ventilators have become a common way to give emergency respiratory assistance to a variety of diagnoses including: 1. COPD/Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations 2....

It’s the Intensive Care Unit. Things can happen fast and furiously. To a patient, it can be a blur. Time… that is the critical key. Time can mean lost brain in a stroke. Time can mean lost heart muscle in a heart attack. Time can mean lost kidneys, liver, intestines,...

Every nurse in every nursing program in every state in every country has been taught and drilled “The 5 Rights of Medication Administration”. It is a standardized protocol to teach nurses to VERIFY WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND HOW they are giving medications: 1. Right...

It is reported that 1750-7250 of approximately 250,000 patients that undergo major heart surgeries every year will have a post-operative cardiac arrest. There is new evidence that chest compressions are not the best answer. The current ACLS Standards for resuscitation...

I want someone who will protect me when I am sick and vulnerable. I know I am at your mercy. When I am so sick, I cannot tell or remember how many people are in the room, or protect myself … … against hands in private places, watching me for breathing, heart rate,...

Did you know that 1 + 1 + 1 can equal 10? In mathematical sciences, it wouldn’t seem possible that this equation would possibly work. If I put that on the board in a math class, I would certainly be laughed at! In medicine and healthcare, however, this equation is...